Approximately 35% of the cost of producing stuffed olives at commercial plants is caused by labor and waste, particularly in hand-cutting and stuffing of pimientos into the pitted olives. The high cost is also due in part to the varying shapes of the pimiento peppers, and conventionally there will be a 10-30% loss of peppers which cannot be utilized in the stuffing operation for stuffed olives.
In addition, pimiento peppers are not uniform in color, varying from a deep red to an orange, and are traditionally graded by color. An advantage in employing a reconstituted pimiento containing product from natural pimiento is that pimientos of varying color can be blended to obtain a product of uniform color.
Equipment has been developed that can utilize a pimiento "sheet" and, through the use of various cutters, stuff olives with little or no hand labor or waste. For this purpose, it is known to comminute the pimiento peppers and then form them into a uniform sheet to be handled in the automatic cutting and stuffing equipment. One product on the market has the ingredient statement on its label which reads: "Olives, water, pimiento, salt, citrus pectin, calcium chloride, artificial color, calcium phosphate." This product suffers from the disadvantage that it does not have the appearance, texture or flavor of a natural pimiento.
A puree pimiento product being proposed by Sadrym and/or Alginate Industries, Ltd., a division of Imperial Chemical Company, is said to contain pimiento, sodium alginate, guar gum, cellulose and calcium chloride. This product although better than that mentioned above, still fails to have the texture and taste of natural pimiento. It is not known whether the product is prior art under the U.S. Patent Laws.
In addition to texture and flavor, it is necessary for a reconstituted pimiento product to be as close as possible to a natural pimiento with regard to color and odor as well. It is also necessary that the reconstituted product be capable of retaining its integrity in an aqueous environment, and be capable of mechanical insertion into the hollow core of a pitted olive.
Alginates, because of their interesting properties, have found numerous applications in the food industry, for instance as thickening agents, suspending agents, stabilizing or emulsifying agents, gel producers, and film forming agents, where they can be incorporated without inhibiting or masking flavor. The alginates such as sodium, potassium and ammonium are very water soluble and can be made to form smooth gels from water systems by the controlled release of calcium ion. The gels are chemically set, irreversible and do not melt on heating. Typical uses for such gel systems include pie fillings, ice cream, confectionary gels, French dressing, meat sauce, dessert gels, milk puddings, frozen fruits and others. U.S. Pat. No. 2,403,547 (Peschardt) discloses the manufacture of artificial edible cherries and the like using a sodium alginate water system.